It's Cold Outside
by Snows Of Yester-Year
Summary: Fluffy Christmas one shot between Kagome and InuYasha. Kagome needs to return home so that she can decorate the tree, but InuYasha's being...well, InuYasha. Rated for saftey.


Finally, it's up! I swear, I procrastinated on this thing forEVER. Alright...well...this is my first InuYasha story (ever) so if it's bad...sorry. Just work with me, I'm still new at this...

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: InuYasha and all other characters, titles, ect. not mine. The story, however, IS.

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Kagome hugged her jacket closer to her body, shivering. Despite the fact that she was indoors, and sitting around a blazing fire, she still could feel the chill of winter settling into her bones. A blizzard had struck up earlier today, too, only adding to the perpetual chill of the air…and InuYasha's bad mood, as it was agreed that searching for Naraku in the middle of a snowstorm was just plain stupid. 

InuYasha was pacing the floor, his eyes occasionally darting out the window at the swirling snow. Kagome had not seen him this anxious since the last new moon. He glared out the window persistently, growling. "_Damn it!_" he snarled. "When is this stupid storm going to be over already!"

Kagome was equally eager for the storm raging outside to let up, but for an entirely different reason then InuYasha. She had promised her mother that she would come home tonight so that they could decorate the tree as a family. Her mother had made the argument that they hardly get to do things as a family anymore, mainly because Kagome was always too busy jumping back and forth between the Sengoku Jidai and the modern era, playing a constant game of Russian roulette with the vicious demons in the former era and her schoolwork in the latter. In other words, with all that on her plate, who has time to just hang out with the family? Not her. But she was determined to make it home this time. This wasn't just some dumb geometry test; it was a family gathering that only happened once a year. How could she miss it? And Sota was so excited about her coming home to decorate the tree, too…

Kagome stared directly into the heart of the fire, trying to take her mind off of her family. She watched the logs as they shook off their glowing embers into the fire pit, where the discarded cinders lay to cool down. She watched, not speaking, the fire burning away like the guilt inside of her. She felt it eating away at her, knowing that she should be at home; all she was doing here was wasting time, storm or no storm. She lifted her head up and looked around. She was sitting in Kaede's hut, her friends sitting as close to the fire as could be managed without contracting first-degree burns; with the exception of InuYasha, who was continuing to pace impatiently.

Kagome couldn't stand it anymore. She stood silently and glanced around. Everybody had been pulled from their own little world and was staring at her. "Well," she said, a little too loudly, "I guess I should be going."

InuYasha jumped in front of her. "Are you _crazy!_"

She shrugged. "No. Why should I be? Look, I _told_ my family that I'd be home today so that we could decorate the tree-"

"The what?"

"The tree, don't interrupt." She realized that absolutely everybody in the cabin was looking at her as though she had just grown an extra limb. InuYasha finally broke the silence.

"Why the hell would you want to decorate a _tree?_" He sneered.

Kagome sighed heavily. "It's a tradition for Christmas to cut down a small pine tree, bring it your house, and decorate it."

"Why?"

"To put presents under."

Of course, she was met with wave after wave of questions from her friends.

"To do what, now?"

"Why put presents under the tree?"

"What the hell is 'Christmust'?"

"SHUT _UP!_" she yelled in frustration. Everybody stared, taken aback at Kagome's sudden outburst. She turned to InuYasha and barked at him, "And it's Christ_mas,_ not Christ_must. _Say it right. Idiot." Growing impatient, she snatched up her bag and snapped over her shoulder, "I'll be back tomorrow or the day after. See you all then."

She was almost out the door when InuYasha grabbed her shoulder.

"Hang on just a second, Kagome! You can't go!"

Now thoroughly annoyed, she turned around and hissed angrily, "And – why – _not?_"

There was complete silence for a few moments except for the dull roaring of the fire and the shrill shrieking of the wind outside of the hut. Kagome and InuYasha stared at each other, neither showing any emotion – okay, that's a lie. They both had clearly aggravated expressions on their faces, but for their part, they were both making conscious efforts to hide it. Kagome narrowed her eyes and sneered, "Well? What's your reasoning, _InuYasha? _Why can't I go home right now?" Quite frankly, she was sick of going through hoops with InuYasha whenever she wanted to go home. It got old after awhile. Finally, InuYasha spoke, although it was not in the same self-confident, if not completely conceited, manner he usually presented himself. In fact, he seemed rather hesitant, as though he knew that what he was about to say was quite possibly one of the most pathetic things to ever leave his mouth.

"It's...cold outside."

Every pair of eyes in the room fixed onto InuYasha. Kagome gave him a look that was balanced between bewildered and…well, no, bewildered pretty much summed it up.

"Is that _it_!" she exclaimed. "Your excuse is that it's cold outside!"

InuYasha's stubborn demeanor promptly returned. "Did I stutter, wench? What with you being the frail little human you are, you'd probably freeze to death!"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Gee, it's just _great _to see that you care so much!" she snarled sarcastically. She pushed past InuYasha and snapped, "Well, I thank you for your _concern, _but I am quite capable of taking care of myself. Besides, I can't miss this. I'll be back in a day or two." But as she attempted to leave again, InuYasha shot his hand out and grabbed her by the arm. She turned and glared at him. And he glared right back at her. "Would you just hear me out?" he hissed. She scowled. "No, I will NOT just hear you out! What the heck is your problem, anyway! Do you think that you _own _me!"

He leaned in closer and muttered, "Look, I know. Just…just let me walk you to the well, alright? I'll make sure that you make it home safely. But it's too dangerous for you to go out there on your own. Just let me come with you."

Kagome stared at him, shocked into silence. They stared at each other, neither speaking a word. Kagome thought about the tone of his voice; rough and deep, as usual, but with a subtle undertone to it that was gentler then what she was used to. His grip on her arm was considerably lighter then what she would expect it to be, too. She then looked into his eyes. Not just looking at them, but looking into them, until she could see his soul in them. His eyes were soft, their burnished golden color glowing with a tender warmth that genuinely surprised Kagome. He, in turn, was looking her square in the eye as well, and a small smile appeared on his face. _Oh, it's not fair! How could anyone say no to that?_ She sighed heavily, nodded, and said impatiently, "All right, we may as well get a move on." She turned to her friends. "I'll see you all in a day or two, 'kay?"

Sango smiled. "Okay. Have fun, Kagome!"

"I hope you have a safe journey."

"We will see you when you return."

"Don't take too long!"

After everybody was done saying goodbye, Kagome and InuYasha stepped out of the house and into the cold. The snow swirled around them, and Kagome realized that it had lightened up a bit. In fact one could almost call the snow…perfect. It was not so heavy that it bowed the branches on the strongest of oaks and made it so that you could not see more then two feet in front of your face, but it was not so light that there was no point in it at all. The sky was just starting to darken, trapped in that short web of time that sat suspended between the day and the night. The other houses of the village were nestled comfortably together, and Kagome could see from where she was standing the warm, inviting glow that emanated from the small fires blazing within.

InuYasha cleared his thought, startling Kagome from her pensive observations of her surroundings. "Let's get moving before it gets too dark," he said gruffly. No explanations, no questions. Just a blunt "let's go." She nodded in agreement; he was right, of course. Storm or no, they still would have been safer traveling during the day. _I should have left earlier, _she thought angrily. She stifled a sigh. Well, no use thinking about it now; the past can't be changed. Might as well just go on ahead now and hope that they didn't run into any demons. Or bandits. While we're at it, let's add "heavier snowing" to the "if-this-happened-it-would-totally-suck" list. Shaking the unpleasant thoughts from her head, Kagome walked with InuYasha into the forest.

They walked side-by-side down the path for awhile, a natural silence settling between the two. It wasn't uncomfortable, just…quiet. Kagome glanced warily at InuYasha out of the corner of her eye, but his gaze was fixed steadily on the path before them. Kagome allowed a small sigh to escape her before directing her attention to the snow-covered path as well. Their feet crunched softly against the snow that already carpeted the ground as even more snow drifted down around them from its former home in the star-studded heavens. After a moment, Kagome's backpack slipped off of her shoulder and slid quickly down her arm. Almost without thinking, she bent her elbow so that the backpack was stopped, but did not bother to replace her backpack. Instead, she simply hugged herself, shivering violently, teeth chattering. _I don't know why it has to be so damn cold, _she thought grumpily. No sooner had this musing crossed her mind when she felt a sudden but light weight drape itself across her hunched shoulders. Whatever it was was actually helping some with the cold, and she clutched it silently to her. She recognized the feel of rough cloth clenched between her fingers, and she immediately knew what it was. She looked over in surprise at InuYasha, who was now simply in his cream-colored shirt that he wore beneath his haori and, of course, his rosary. His scarlet fire-rat robe that normally adorned him was now draped around Kagome's shoulders, shielding her from the frigid chill in the air. He smirked at her and said simply, "I _told _you it was cold outside."

Kagome hugged the shirt closer around her body and whispered, "Thank you." They walked in silence again, only now it was slightly more awkward. Neither spoke, and they silently avoided each others gaze. Kagome stole a glance at InuYasha out of the corner of her eye, watching as a few flakes of snow settled into his silver hair, blending in perfectly. She returned her gaze to the ground, feeling slightly guilty. _Now, I _know _that he has to be cold, _she thought. _Who wouldn't be? I mean, at least I had a jacket he doesn't have anything but that dumb shirt. Half-demon or not, he has to be feeling kind of cold right now._ She cleared her throat lightly to get his attention. "Are you…alright? You're not too cold, are you?"

He looked up at her, slightly surprised. "Huh? Oh…no, no, I'm fine. How 'bout you? You warm enough?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes. Thank you."

Silence again. Kagome would give almost anything to break it right about now. A big, vicious demon charging in here and shattering the silence would do pretty well for her, Kagome realized, although she knew that now was the only time that she would ever think so.

InuYasha broke the silence. "So what is this 'Christmas' thing, anyway?"

Kagome grinned, relieved that the silence had been broken. "It's a big holiday in the modern era. Everyone gets together and spends time with their family."

"What all do you do?"

"Well, like I said earlier, we cut down a tree and bring it inside and decorate it, for one thing."

"What does it look like?"

"Just a big green pine tree. We cut it down, and bring it in, and set it a bowl of water. Then we put a tree skirt around it."

"What's a tree skirt?"

"It's a piece of cloth that goes around the base of the tree. It really has no purpose, it just looks nice. Then we decorate the actual tree. We wind these bright colored lights around the tree, and we hang a bunch of glass orbs on the tree. They come in all kinds of colors, and some even have these pretty patterns on them. After that, we put a star on the very top of the tree. It usually lights up, too."

"It sounds beautiful."

"It really is. Would you like to see it?"

"How?"

"Simple. You come to the modern era with me, and help us decorate it. Come on it'll be fun!" She smiled brightly at him, and he found it incredibly hard to say no.

"Might as well," he muttered. "Walking home tonight in the snow and the dark does not sound like much fun…" he paused. "What else do you do?"

"Well, we hang up stockings…to put gifts in," she said in explanation after seeing his puzzled face.

He frowned lightly. "You exchange gifts?" he murmured, diverting his gaze.

Kagome nodded. "Mm-hmm." Actually, another reason that she wanted to go home was that she had gotten gifts for her friends, and wanted to get them from her house. She had a particularly good time, going through all of the modern things to buy and figuring out what each of her friends would like the best.

InuYasha fell into a pensive silence. Kagome did not break it, but just continued to stare straight ahead into the darkness and the swirling snow. After a few more minutes of walking, InuYasha stopped, staring at something on the path. He paused and knelt down to the snow-blanketed earth and picked up whatever it was he saw. He stood, examined it briefly, and they continued their walk, the object – whatever it was – still grasped in InuYasha's hand.

Kagome realized that they had arrived at the well. She turned to InuYasha. He picked her up and descended into the well. After a moment, Kagome felt the familiar feeling of traveling across time; it was not unlike the feeling that one gets when their foot falls asleep, only all over the body. It was not necessarily an unpleasant feeling, just strange.

They landed, and InuYasha put Kagome down before climbing up and out of the well, Kagome close behind him. They exited the well house and paused, looking around. Kagome laughed out loud at the expression on InuYasha's face. The house was adorned already with bright strings of colored Christmas lights. He had probably never seen anything like it before. Snow was falling here, too, but it was a softer snow then that in the Sengoku Jidai. Kagome laughed again, louder this time, tipping her head back and allowing the feathery snowflakes to rest silently on her face.

InuYasha watched her for a moment, and she realized that he was looking at her in the same way that he had back in Kaede's cabin. His eyes gazed into hers with a soft warmth that surprised her. She smiled at him, and neither dropped their gaze. They just stood there like that for a few moments, neither speaking, just gazing at each other silently. After a moment, InuYasha reached up one hand and pushed a lock of her hair that so perfectly mirrored midnight behind her ear, a few stray snowflakes still sinking down from the distant heavens resting in her hair, making it look as though it were adorned with diamonds. His claws brushed her skin, and the light touch made her shiver – although, this time it had nothing to do with the cold. Another moment passed, and InuYasha extended his now-open palm, revealing to Kagome what he had picked up on the forest path. Kagome rested a hand against her mouth when she saw what it was, but not even that could contain the broad smile that she wore.

It was a stone. Years and years of wind and rain had worn away whatever roughness that it once had, and it was now as smooth as the new fallen snow. It was white as any pearl, without a single crack or dent to mar its smooth surface. What with all the snow on the ground, it was a miracle that InuYasha could have even seen it laying there. But what truly made this simple stone so remarkable was its unusual shape.

It was shaped like a heart.

InuYasha lifted his still gaze to meet hers and smiled. Not a smirk, as was so expected on InuYasha, not a half-hearted smile at all, but a full, true, genuine, hopeful smile.

"For you," he murmured in a voice so soft that she could barley hear it.

She blinked, taking the perfect little stone from his hand. _For me…? Well, if _that _doesn't just make my gift look completely thoughtless and impersonal…_but she smiled back at him and, wrapping her arms around him, whispered, "Thank you."

He dipped his head down and abruptly kissed her, surprising her to no end. For a moment she just stood there, too astounded to do anything, then she woke up. Smiling, she dropped her bag to the ground and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back. They parted, and Kagome rested against his chest, her eyes drooping lightly, and a big smile permanently etched on her face.

It was cold outside, she realized. But she didn't feel it at all.

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Hmmm...well. Sorry the ending was a little mleh. I have a tendency to get serious writers block when it comes time to finish a story. Well, thanks for taking the time to read it. -Mwezi383 


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